Andy Warhol

Pistol

1981

Andy Warhol began using the big-shot Polaroid camera in 1971 and continued using it religiously until his death in 1987. Despite the camera being discontinued in 1973, he continued t...

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946 - 1989) helped elevate photography to be considered fine art in the 1970s thanks to his uncompromising images rich in contrast, from beautiful to brutal and elegant to uninhibited. Mapplethorpe’s career was as glittering as it was controversial. Feted and vilified in equal measure, he ran a successful commercial studio (for portraiture and fashion photography) while simultaneously producing some of the most contentious (and beautiful!) images of the 20th century. His depictions of gay sexuality (including S&M and bondage) provoked a fierce backlash both at the time of their creation and well into the 1990s and beyond. This unique polaroid dates from when Mapplethorpe began to focus on pure photography, abandoning the collages of the first chapter of his career. It is also a foreshadowing of his curiosity and pursuit of New York's S&M scene. This unique polaroid features an opened bottle of Moët-Chandon with a sharp blade emerging from the neck. Typical of Mapplethorpe, there is his signature balance of formalist qualities, foreboding references, with a touch of sexuality and violence. Mapplethorpe's style is instantly recognizable: simple forms set against neutral backgrounds, a razor-sharp focus, and opulent, tonal gradations ranging from inky, velvety black to luminous silver-white. Although this is a unique polaroid, its sibling is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. We believe that our example is superior to the two; the label is mostly concealed which intensifies the shapes and composition. Robert Mapplethorpe mounted over fifty solo exhibitions during his lifetime, including numerous museum shows in the USA, Europe, and Japan. Since his death, his work has continued to be exhibited and acquired by major international art institutions. Questions about this artwork? Contact us. "Untitled" (Moet Blade) USA, 1972 Unique polaroid. Annotated 'PD 708' in pencil in an unknown hand on the verso. Original stamp from Mertens Framers. 4.5”H 3.4”W (image) 15"H 8"W (framed) Very good condition. Detailed condition report by request Provenance: Xavier Hufkens...

Innovative, provocative, inimitable - these are just a few of the words to describe America's boldest photographer. Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee (1899-1968) was a ground-breaking, successful (and notorious) photojournalist. His images shot on the streets of New York City are iconic and influential. In the 1930s he became the first New York City press photographer to obtain permission to install a police radio in his car. This allowed him to follow the city's first responders and to document their duties; responding to fire, crime, debauchery and of course, murder. By the early 1940s Weegee was experiencing fatigue with crime reportage. Ironically, this was also the point when he finally began experiencing professional validation and acclaim, to the point of being a minor celebrity. Notably in 1941 he was included in The MoMA's seminal "50 Photographs by 50 Photographers" (curated by Edward Steichen). The museum would also acquire five Weegee photographs...

While many first associate Weegee (aka Arthur Fellig) with New York City crime scenes, perhaps a broader and more consistent theme is that of spectacle and/or urban entertainment. The origins of his nick-name and reputation date back to the 1930s when he became the first New York City press photographer to obtain permission to install a police radio in his car. Following the city's first responders and documenting their duties, Weegee had unprecedented access to New York’s fires, crimes, debaucheries and of course, murders. During the first decade of his career these unflinching urban tragedy or crime images paid Weegee's bills, but as he became more financially independent he was more inspired to pursue photographs on his own agenda. While his oeuvre is vast, Weegee was especially drawn to entertainment: nightlife, circuses, the theatre, showgirls, city thrills, the cinema etc. Some of Weegee's most dynamic and tender (and under-appreciated!) images are related to simply having fun (in a crowd). He was not confined to one neighbourhood or demographic. He captured action, faces and events from Coney Island to the Bowery and Greenwich Village, to Times Square and Harlem. In “A Trip To Mars,” Weegee depicts a multi-generational group crowding around a large telescope...

Weegee (1899-1968) was equally fascinated and inspired by cinema and all of its tangents, from Hollywood movie stars to ordinary civilians going to the movies. While Weegee is typically associated with crime/disaster images, the broad theme of "entertainment" is a major component of his oeuvre. An interesting and provocative sub-genre of his cinema-related work are his images of couples (often heavy-petting) in movie theatres. Recent scholarship has established that many of Weegee's supposed clandestine images were actually staged or arranged with friends or co-operative strangers. Nevertheless, Weegee created these photographs in the dark with an array of clever techniques including infrared film, filtered flashbulb and triangular prism lens. Employed in shots such as this one, the prism lens would allow the artist to “see around corners,” useful at times when his subjects were in compromising locations. These images of kissing couples, Weegee wrote in 1959, were “his best seller, year in and year out.” "Sailor and GIrl at the Movies...

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) is one of the most influential and daring photographers of the 20th century. Arbus is best known for her unique form of documentary portraiture. She explored the uncanny, the marginalized, and the idiosyncratic characters who defied mid-century conformity. Her work has influenced some of the most renowned photographers of our time including Nan Goldin. While her career launched in the fashion world, it was years after quitting commercial photography (circa 1956) that she found her voice as an artist. With camera in hand, she followed her fascination with the eccentric individuals and oddities of New York City. Ultimately rejecting her affluent, sheltered upbringing and the mainstream fashion industry to create her own definitions of beauty. Arbus’ portraits were considered incredibly provocative for their bold representations of sexuality, chaos, and grit. She fully immersed herself within the queer and alternative communities she documented, engaged with a curious balance of mystery and homage. Shot in 1966, "Groom Kissing His Bride" is a prime example of her uncanny ability to capture even the most traditional moments (a wedding) through a lens of surrealism. Love and tension confront each other as the groom kisses the bride with an attacking passion. Her likeness disappears behind his embrace and their newlywed bodies merge together. This work also contains Arbus’ visual trademarks – a black and white palette, a square crop, and a hard flash that flattens the aesthetic wonderland of New York. Today, Arbus' work is celebrated in many major museum collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Institute of Chicago, National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo), and Centre Pompidou (Paris). "Groom Kissing his Bride, NYC" USA, 1966 Gelatin-silver print Printed by Neil Selkirk Stamped 'A Diane Arbus photograph...

Rare Vintage Silver Gelatin and Polaroid Photograph Prints in Polaroid Photo Album. These measure 10 x 8 4.25 x 3.25. it is a folder titled on it Custom Print by Polaroid the album i...

Caddy Tailfin Archival pigment print on canvas 60 x 96 inches Edition of 10 AMERICANA "From rural Montana to the Manhattan skyline at dawn, from a New Mexico cowboy...

"Natalia Makarova " is an gelatin print , silver bromide, numbered and signed photograph offered to " serge Lifar " by Max Waldman . Artist proof . Ser...

Peter Orlovsky and Herbert Huncke - March 7 1960 Over a 50-year span, McDarrah documented the rise of the Beat Generation, the city’s postmodern art movement, its off-off-Broadway actors, troubadours, politicians, agitators and social protests. Fred captured Jack Kerouac frolicking with women at a New Year’s bash in 1958, Andy Warhol adjusting a movie-camera lens in his silver-covered factory, and Bob Dylan offering a salute of recognition outside Sheridan Square near the Voice’s old office. Not just a social chronicler, McDarrah was a great photo-journalist. For years, McDarrah was the Voice's only photographer and, for decades, he ran the Voice’s photo department, where he helped train dozens of young photographers, including James Hamilton, Sylvia Plachy, Robin Holland and Marc Asnin. His mailbox was simply marked "McPhoto." An exhibit of McDarrah’s photos of artists presented by the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea was hailed by The New York Times as “a visual encyclopedia of the era’s cultural scene.” artists in their studios, (Alice Neel, Philip Guston, Stuart Davis, Robert Smithson, Jasper Johns, Franz Kline), actors (Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro on the set of “Taxi Driver”), musicians (Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan) and documentary images of early happenings and performances (Yayoi Kusama, Charlotte Moorman, Al Hansen, Jim Dine, Nam June Paik). The many images of Andy Warhol include the well-known one with his Brillo boxes at the Stable Gallery in 1964. Woody Allen, Diane Arbus, W. H. Auden, Francis Bacon, Joan Baez, Louise Bourgeois, David Bowie, Jimmy Breslin, William Burroughs, John Cage, Leo Castelli, Christo, Leonard Cohen, Merce Cunningham, William de Kooning, Jim Dine, Mark di Suvero, Marcel Duchamp, Bob Dylan, Federico Fellini, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Indiana, Mick Jagger, Jasper Johns, Kusama, John Lennon, Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Nam June Paik, Elvis Presley, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg, Lou Reed, James Rosenquist, Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha, Robert Smithson, Susan Sontag, Andy Warhol, and others. McDarrah’s prints have been collected in depth by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington. His work is in numerous public and private collections. Peter Anton Orlovsky was an American Beat poet and actor. He was the long-time partner of Allen Ginsberg. Herbert Edwin Huncke (January 9, 1915 – August 8, 1996) was an American writer and poet, and active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America. He was a member of the Beat Generation and is reputed to have coined the term. Huncke had been a writer, unpublished, since his days in Chicago and gravitated toward literary types and musicians. In the music world, Huncke visited all the jazz clubs and associated with Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon...

Youth at mets Game waiting for Autograph on August 20th, 1970 Photographer is Fred McDarrah Over a 50-year span, McDarrah documented the rise of the Beat Generation, the city’s pos...

People walking alongside puddle at Woodstock in Bethel NY 1969 Photographer is Fred McDarrah Over a 50-year span, McDarrah documented the rise of the Beat Generation, the city’s po...